Aloft
by Naomi Shihoin
Summary: 02/Tamers. Akiyama Ryo had never fully recalled his time between worlds, nor has he ever wanted to. But when he finds a near-dead Ichijouji Ken on his doorstep five years after the D-Reaper, he might not have a choice.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: The first thing to know about this fic is that it is essentially a broken down what-if story based on "Runaway Locomon". You don't need to have seen the movie to read this, though. That's because the first five chapters are essentially a novelization of the movie. You may think that's going overboard and you're probably right. But, I couldn't really find a good point in the middle of the movie to start.

Oh, and a note about the characters' ages: Digimon Wiki says this takes place about six months after the TV show ends (which makes sense given that they all look the same). Thus, canonically, the characters are supposed to still be 12 (I'm going with their ages in the dub). However, because I feel more comfortable writing older teenagers, I've aged them up to roughly 17 (Shaochung is 12), meaning that this fic takes place five years after the TV show finishes.

The real plotline of the fic takes place from chapter 6, btw.

...

**Aloft**

_**Chapter 1**_

It was mid-afternoon, on a lovely spring day. Ruki was with her mother at the subway station. They were returning from a visit to Ruki's aunt and uncle, outside the city. Ruki was not in a particularly good mood at the time. Her aunt and uncle were fine, but kind of boring. Her two young cousins, though, were another story. They were both a couple of hyperactive brats who considered Ruki their own personal jungle gym. Ruki was glad the visit had ended after lunch, instead of lasting all day like they usually did.

The train station was unusually empty for a weekend. Then again, the ever popular cherry blossom festival was starting that day, and there weren't many trees in this particular part of Tokyo.

_At least Mum didn't try to through another dumb birthday party for me_, she thought. Ruki's mother always liked throwing enormous birthday parties for her daughter. Ruki hated those kinds of parties. Too many people, half of whom she barely knew, all telling her how much she'd grown, and in general making her the centre of attention. Not to mention the dresses Rumiko tried to put her in… It seemed that this year, her mother would finally respect her wishes.

Ruki's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out and checked the caller ID. It was Takato. _Is there a Digimon in Shinjuku?_ She wondered. Or maybe he'd forgotten a school assignment. Now that she went to the same high school as the other Tamers, she got more calls like that.

She answered. "Hey Takato."

"Hey Ruki," he said, soundly oddly nervous. "Listen, uh… Juri asked me to call you and tell you that we're going down to the cherry blossom festival at Shinjuku Park today. Do you wanna come?"

Ruki rolled her eyes. "Sitting around and watching pink flowers is stupid and a waste of time. Besides, it'll be crowded as hell and we probably won't be able to find a spot."

"Uh, no, no, that's not exactly what I meant," he stammered. "Y'see..."

"What, then?" she demanded, irritation mounting. She bit her lip, trying to wait patiently for him to finally spit it out.

"Well, y'see, our plan was…" He told her.

Ruki really did snap. "Nobody asked you to do this sort of thing! Besides, why did my family know before me?" In fact, she thought she knew why, but hoped she was wrong.

"Well… you see… You're always busy and… the truth is, today is your-"

In the background, Ruki heard Guilmon exclaim: "Takato!"

Takato yelped, and there was a thud. "Guilmon, I told you to hide!" She heard him hiss.

"Hold it Takato," Ruki began. Despite her irritation, she couldn't help but smile a little, as she pictured what was happening on Takato's end of the phone. From the background noise, it sounded like they were in a crowded place. Whatever hiding place Takato had devised for Guilmon (it was usually a cardboard box), Guilmon was clearly not cooperating. _Probably got bored and decided to explore or something_, Ruki thought. Typical really.

She then remembered she was supposed to be annoyed at him. "Listen gogglehead, it's really obvious what you're planning here, so just… forget it already. Okay?"

At that moment, a train whooshed past her. Ruki knew instantly that it could not be a Tokyo train — it was brown, not silver. And the clatter of wheels on tracks sounded wrong. There was only one thing it could be. A Digimon.

"Gotta go," she told Takato, before putting her phone in her pocket and taking off after the train, ignoring her mother's calls.

Takato stared dumbfounded at his phone. Ruki had just hung up on him all of a sudden. That was unlike her, especially since she'd been in the middle of lecturing him. Why would she…?

Guilmon tugged at his sleeve. "Takato, look!" Takato looked in the direction his partner was pointing. A small crowd had gathered beneath one of the TV monitors in the subway, murmuring tensely.

There was a news report about a strange, runaway train making its why around the Tokyo tracks. Takato's eyes widened as a picture of it appeared on screen. A Digimon. According to the report it had just passed the station Ruki was at. Now her abrupt hang up made all kind's of sense.

Another update flashed across the screen. It was headed towards Shinjuku train station, where Takato currently was.

"Come on Guilmon, we gotta go!"

"Yay! Fun!" Guilmon cheered, sprinting after his partner.

Takato ran towards the stairwell. Judging by the report, the train-Digimon would pass through the station on one of the above-ground tracks. He needed to get to the ground-level platform fast, and couldn't afford to wait for the elevator.

He sprinted up the stairs, two at a time. Pausing, he leaned over the railing and called, "Hurry up Guilmon!"

"Coming!" he called back. Takato heard two people yelp, evidently spotting his partner as he passed. No time to worry about that now…

They emerged onto the open-air platform seconds later. He could see the train Digimon barrelling down the tracks, towards the station. There wasn't much time.

"Guilmon!" Takato pulled out his Digivice.

"Right! _Guilmon evolve to… Growmon!_" Growmon snarled and jumped onto the tracks, digging his enormous claws into the dirt, bracing for the impact.

Half out of habit, Takato pulled out his D-Power and did a scan. To his surprise, a read-out came up. "I was right," he muttered to himself. "It is a Digimon." _Locomon, Perfect level_, the read-out read. All this transpired in about the second it took for Locomon to reach Growmon.

"Nnngh!" Growmon grunted, sliding backwards through the dirt. He grunted again and dug his heels in deeper. Locomon slowed to a crawl, but he continued to gain ground nonetheless. "What… do you… think you're — Nrngh! — doing?" Growmon demanded through clenched teeth.

"I have to hurry," the Locomon replied in a monotone. His voice was a deep bass with a metallic echo to it. "I have to keep running."

_That's it?!_ Takato thought incredulously. _After this trouble, he can't give a better reason than that?!_

At that moment, a whistling billow of smoke and steam whooshed out of Locomon's smokestack and the wheels began to turn faster. Growmon struggled to keep from losing more ground.

"He's so strong…" Takato gaped.

Pedestrians and commuters screamed, panicked and began to flee as Growmon started losing more and more ground. Finally, Growmon lost his balance, crashed through the railing and crashing onto the platform below the tracks. Locomon began to pick up speed again, fast leaving the station.

There was no time to think properly. Takato hurtled over the platform railing and onto the tracks, dredging up every last microfibre of strength he could to catch up to the accelerating train. Finally he reached out his right hand and grabbed onto the railing on the platform at the end of the very last car.

Instantly, he realized his grip was terrible; he was holding on with just the ends of the fingers on. Terror swept him as for a brief moment, he was certain he would lose his grip and wind up a splattered mess on the train tracks.

Somehow, he managed to hold on just long enough to get a better grip with his left hand, and clamber over the railing onto the platform. The train was picking up speed now. He would not be able to get off without killing himself.

"Growmon!" he called to his partner.

"Takato!" he called back, distressed that his partner was now getting away from him.

"Warn Jenrya and the others! We're gonna need their help!"

...

"Hey, look at that train go!" Shaochung cried excitedly as the mystery train whooshed past their train's window. Her exclamation was accompanied by murmuring from the other passengers, muttering about the mystery train's odd appearance and excessive speed.

"Maybe it's a freight train?" Jenrya mused aloud, frowning. They didn't usually go on the Metro Rail tracks, but it happened sometimes. But something about this bugged him.

"Perhaps a freight train decided to be an ambulance for a day?" Terriermon muttered. "Why else would it smash the speed limit to smithereens?"

"Hmmm… good point," Jenrya agreed. He left it at that. He would probably hear the full story on the news later that night.

They arrived and it occurred to him: a Digimon. Maybe that's what it was.

Jenrya considered ignoring the maybe-Digimon. He didn't want to have to skip out on Ruki's surprise birthday party, only to find it was an ordinary train with brake problems or something. Plus, he would have to bring Shaochung with him and that was a distraction he didn't need in a fight. Not to mention explaining it to his parents later.

But it still nagged at him. No, it was more than nagging. He was certain of it now, though he couldn't explain way, even to himself.

"Jenrya!" Shaochung pulled on his sleeve. "The Yamanote line is that way."

"No Shaochung, we've got to head back to Shinjuku," he answered. Shinjuku was the direction the mystery train had been headed.

Shaochung furrowed her eyebrows. "But aren't we supposed to meet up with Ruki?"

"Well…" he began awkwardly. He knew his theory would sound supremely lame if he explained it aloud. Now almost twelve, Suzie had recently started to enjoy poking fun at her big brother for things like that.

He was saved from answering by an announcer on the PA. "Due to technological malfunction, service on some Japan Railway lines has been halted until further notice. We apologize for the inconvenience." A list of the suspended railways appeared on the stations display screens. Jenrya studied the list and then suppressed a groan. All the trains that could take him back to Shinjuku from this station were among the suspended ones.

_Technological malfunction? I suppose a runaway mystery train would do that…_ Jenrya thought. They needed to get to Shinjuku, but that would be a whole lot harder if the trains couldn't get them there.

"What should we do then? Jenrya?" Terriermon queried.

"Gimme a sec, I'm thinking…" he said. "Right, if we walk over to Ochanomizu Station, we can take the Marunouchi Line back to Shinjuku. It's not far, so Ochanomizu will probably be fastest."

"What, you mean we have to walk?" Shaochung pouted.


	2. Chapter 2

**vale and anon**: I'd love to have Ryo and Ruki together, but I've already decide who Ryo will be with and who Ruki will be with. Sorry.

...

_**Chapter 2**_

Locomon thundered down the tracks as Takato crouched on the deck outside the last train. He really didn't have a plan. In fact, he was starting to deeply regret his decision to jump on board in the first place.

He knew nothing whatsoever about trains. Even in the unlikely event that Locomon had some kind of emergency brake, Takato had no idea what it could look like. It certainly wouldn't be identified by helpful signs, like it was on the subway. Nor did he know enough about train engines to disable one.

Plus, if Locomon could use his Digimon abilities to attack anyone who approached the front cars, Takato was royally screwed without Guilmon to protect him. He might be able to separate the rear cars by pulling the pin, but he couldn't count on that in a pinch.

_But what else can I do?_ He couldn't just sit around waiting for a cavalry that might not come in time. He might as well see what was up there.

Standing up, he opened the door to the last car, and entered. "This thing's like an antique," he muttered to himself, wandering down the aisle. The upholstered seats, curtain windows, and hardwood floor seemed like something out of a set in 19th century Europe. _Or is it 18th century?_ He wondered. He was terrible at history.

He opened the door at the end of the car and stepped onto the platforms connecting it to the next car. Locomon hit a bump, and the entire train jolted sharply. Takato stumbled, fell, and the ground heaved towards him. A bolt of utter terror gripped him. He avoided splattering on the tracks by catching himself on the railing. As soon as he got his balance, Takato scrambled like hell into the next car, and collapsed on the nearest seat in a panting heap.

_Nothing like a little mortal terror to wake you up_, he thought. Why was he putting himself through all of this insanity? What had possessed Locomon to simply run around crazy like this?

Once his heart no longer felt it would burst out of his ribcage for beating so hard, he got up and looked out the window. There were only three or four more train cars between him and the engine car.

"Something must have happened to provoke him…" Takato said to himself. "I gotta get up front and stop him. Somehow."

He moved towards the next car.

...

Ruki panted, her legs pounding into pavement as hard as she could make them. She couldn't afford to lose time. The station was already in sight, but had the train Digimon already come and gone? Deciding to take a shortcut, Ruki leaped over the railing on her left and slid down the grassy hill.

Reaching the sidewalk at the bottom, Ruki peered through a chain-link fence at the track below. All seemed normal still. "Good," she said to herself. "It hasn't come through." She kept running, clambering up a set of stairs towards the station entrance.

Renamon appeared at her side. "Do you have a plan?"

"Of course not!" Ruki retorted, still running. "I'll figure it out as I go!"

"As always," Renamon said, amusement in her voice as she faded away.

...

Jenrya trudged up the hill. His clever detour back to Shinjuku seemed a little slow now. This was mainly because the distance to Ochanomizu Station, which he remembered as being very short, happened to include a ginormous hill to end all ginormous hills.

"Uh, Jenrya?" Terriermon poked him in the side. "I hate to be the one to mention this, but we've got a problem."

Jenrya turned to see what he was looking at. Shaochung was sitting cross-legged, her arms folded, on the sidewalk, the very epitome of a pouting child. "I'm tired!" she whined. "I'm tired, I'm hungry, my feet hurt, and I'm not going any further!"

Jenrya clenched his teeth. She was nearly twelve and getting too old to throw these kinds of tantrums. But since she was the youngest of four, their parents hadn't been trying as hard as they could to impress this fact upon her. Hence the childish behaviour sometimes continued.

_Of all the times for her to act like this…_ No, he couldn't get angry with his sister now. If he told her to quit her whining, that would only get them bickering pointlessly, and he could not afford that.

Remembering his Tai Chi lessons, Jenrya took a few quiet deep breaths before crouching next to his sister. "You want a piggy back ride?"

Her face brightened. "Yeah!" Evidently she'd been gunning for something like this. He sighed. Giving in would only encourage her further, but he couldn't do anything about that now.

Shaochung clambered onto his back, and he stood up with a grunt. She was much bigger and heavier than he remembered. _She's definitely getting too old for this_. He then felt two more weights clamber on to his shoulders.

"All aboard!" Terriermon called jokingly, while Lopmon imitated a train whistle.

Jenrya groaned. "You guys…"

"Yee! Choo choo!" Shaochung squealed, kicking him somewhat painfully in the thighs.

"Listen," Jenrya said, trying to sound good-natured. "This 'train' only takes one passenger, so no stowaways, okay?"

"Right." Terriermon still laughing, the two Digimon leapt to the pavement.

"Hey, look over there!" Shaochung exclaimed, pointing. The humor was gone from her voice, replaced by alarm.

Jenrya looked where she was pointing. An ominous-looking dark purplish cloud hung over downtown Tokyo.

"It's hanging over Ichigaya," Terriermon observed.

"It's a Digital Gate!" Lopmon exclaimed. Jenrya didn't know how she knew that, but decided to take her word for it.

"Is that Train Digimon responsible?" Shaochung wondered. She was fairly quick on the uptake, when she wasn't acting childish or ditzy.

"Probably," Jenrya agreed. It couldn't be a coincidence, both appearing on the same day. "Whatever it is, we need to stop it. Let's get to the station." They took off at a run towards Ochanomizu.

"This day just gets more and more interesting," Terriermon muttered.

...

At the Operations Control Station for Japan Railways, frantic confusion ruled the moment.

"That one train won't stop," one operator said.

"Why not?" the head operator demanded. "Someone, give me an explanation here!"

"I can't give you one," the operator replied, trying to maintain his calm. "Whatever it is likely dangerous."

The head operator gritted his teeth. What had he done to deserve this headache? "Order all trains and railways in the Tokyo Metropolitan region to stop!" _What on earth is going on here?_

The door to the operating room opened, and a light-haired man in his thirties, wearing a suit and sunglasses, entered.

The head operator glowered at the newcomer. "You don't have clearance to be here!" he snapped.

"Actually, I do," the newcomer replied calmly, flashing an ID card. "I'm temporarily taking control of operations here." The head operator read the name on the card.

Mitsuo Yamaki.

...

Jenrya panted with the effort of running and carrying his sister at the same time. Terriermon glided alongside him. "So, Mr. Genius, you gotta plan for when we get there?"

"Well, the news reports said that the train Digimon was running primarily on the tracks for the Kanjoh and Yamanote lines," Jenrya answered, panting. "They're both belt lines that go in a circle around the downtown Tokyo. If we don't stop them, the whole city'll be in trouble!"

...

Yamaki studied the map of the train lines projected onto the wall. All rail lines except for Kanjoh and Yamanote had been removed from the projection, to make things easier to read. A red dot symbolized the train Digimon, making his way around the circle.

"Hmmm, a spatial warp is appearing over Ichigaya," Yamaki murmured. "Interesting."

The head operator gave him a nervous look. "What do we do now?" he asked.

Yamaki ignored him, thinking. _An unknown entity, possibly a Digimon, is running in constant circles around central Tokyo_, Yamaki thought. _And then a vortex-like warp in space appears in the middle_. It wasn't a coincidence, he was certain, though he didn't know if it was intentional on the train Digimon's part. Not that it mattered. Either way, it was dangerous.

His communications headset hummed, signalling an incoming call. He answered it. "Yamaki here."

"This is Riley. I've established the computer link, and am proceeding with the scan."

...

Kenta shifted the massive pile of presents in his arms to get a better grip. He grumbled to himself. _Why me?_ He was only trying to be nice when he'd offered to help prepare for Juri's surprise party for Ruki. Somehow, he'd managed to get landed with the task of carrying everyone's presents for Ruki. Why they couldn't divide this task up, no one had satisfactorily explained.

To top things off, all subways lines had been abruptly closed with no explanation at all. Now, he would have to walk all the way to Shinjuku…

"Hey, Kenta!" a voice behind him called. Kenta turned, and peered around the massive pile of presents to see Kazu and Guardromon running towards him.

"Hey Kazu!" Kenta called happily. "You can help me carry this stuff."

Kazu, not appearing to hear him, paused to catch his breath. "We've been looking for you guys everywhere."

Kenta and MarineAngemon exchanged puzzled looks. Suddenly, MarineAngemon began to gibber and flap his arms wildly, gesturing at something behind Kazu and Guardromon. The all turned, and saw Guilmon staggering towards them, and then collapse on the sidewalk, exhausted.

Kenta shoved the pile of presents into Guardromon's hands as they all ran towards him.

"Guilmon! You okay, buddy?" Kazu asked, worriedly.

"I tried, but Locomon was too strong," he muttered.

Kazu and Kenta exchanged worried glances. "Where's Takato now?"

"I think…" Guilmon groaned. "He's still on Locomon."

Their jaws dropped. "On Locomon?!"


	3. Chapter 3

**TheSilverMew**: *smiles* Thanks for your comments. I will get to chapter 6 all in good time. Thankfully, there are only two more Runaway Locomon movie chapters left until the action really starts. I hope you can hold on a bit longer.

...

_**Chapter 3**_

Takato opened the train car door and smiled. He'd reached the fuel car and was getting close to his goal. He clambered up a ladder onto the top the coal car and began crawling across it towards the engine car.

He tried to mentally block out everything except reaching his goal, but it was hard. Locomon's slipstream constantly pushed and pulled at him and the mountain of coal he was crawling on provided an insecure grip to hold onto. Every time he looked sideways, he saw the scenery blurring past him and couldn't stop himself from envisioning what would happen if he were to slip and fall.

He managed to reach the engine car without incident. He entered the engine car. The good news was that nothing was attacking him, as he'd feared. The bad news was that he had absolutely no idea what any of the levers or instruments there did, as he'd feared.

"Uhhh…" He reached towards a lever at random, but stopped. He had no idea what it would do; it could derail the train and get him killed. This could be a problem.

...

Ruki peered over the bridge railing. Locomon was fast approaching. _Good timing_, she thought. Renamon appeared beside her.

"Let's do this, Renamon." Ruki went back a few steps, took a running start, and leapt over the railing onto the train below. Mid-fall, Renamon appeared beside her and caught her, helping her to make a soft landing on the coal car. _Wow, I can't believe that suicidal stunt actually worked_, she thought.

She leapt off the coal car and into the engine room below. Someone was already there. "What're you doing here, gogglehead?"

Takato turned as Renamon phased in behind her. "Ruki! Renamon!" he said, surprised but happy. Given what he'd pulled on her earlier with the surprise party, she wasn't particularly happy to see him at that moment.

"No time for chit chat, we gotta stop this thing," Ruki said brusquely, pushing past towards the engine, and began to fiddle with valves and levers at random.

"I-I know that," Takato said, sound distressed and somewhat hurt at her brush off. He pulled a Digimon card out of his pocket and held it up. "I-I was gonna use this card, but…"

"Guilmon isn't here?" queried Renamon.

"No, we got separated."

Ruki took the card from him and examined it. "Hm. That could work. You mind?" It wasn't really a request. Without waiting for a response, she swiped it through her Digivice. "Digi-modify! Shellmon's Hydro Pressure, activate!"

"Get back," Renamon ordered. As Takato and Ruki complied, Renamon pointed her arms towards Locomon's furnace. Twin jets of waters blasted from her fists. It vaporized instantly, filling the room with waves of hot steam.

"Hot!" Takato yelped, trying to fan it away from his face.

When it cleared, nothing seemed to have changed. "We'll need a lot more water than that to put a furnace that hot," Renamon said.

"Sorry," Takato apologized to Ruki. "Guess it didn't work."

Ruki went back to fiddling with the controls. "Hmph. That's not the only thing you should be apologizing for."

"Wha-?" It took Takato a second to realize what she meant. "Oh, that. Well, uh… you see… Juri really wanted to throw a party for you, and I-"

"Yeah, yeah, I already figured out that much," Ruki interrupted irritably. She'd realized from the start that this was Juri's idea, but she was still mad at the rest of them for going along with it.

"Yeah, well, and you're always so busy and…" Takato continued awkwardly.

"Alright, enough already," Ruki said, cutting him off again. "Let's just concentrate on stopping this thing, 'kay?!"

"Oh! Uh, right!" said Takato.

At that moment they heard the sound of a motorcycle approaching. The three peered out the side of the train and saw a familiar face approaching.

"Beelzemon!" Takato exclaimed.

"Jus' leave dis ta me," he grunted. Pulling level with Locomon's engine, he unholstered one of his shotguns and aimed for the train's wheels.

"_Double Impact!_" He fired, but to no effect. He aimed for the engine car itself, with the same results.

A spike popped out of Locomon's side. "_Wheel Grinder!_" the train cried. The spike impaled his motorcycle, sending Beelzemon tumbling off as the bike shattered into a thousand pieces.

"Beelzemon!" Takato cried as the friend fell out of sight.

...

Yamaki glanced at one of the TV screens they'd set up in the control room. The rift was getting worse. A funnel cloud had formed, connecting the anomaly in the sky. It wasn't moving, nor was it causing significant damage to anything it wasn't directly touching. But he could not assume that that would last.

His headset hummed again. "Yes?"

"It's me," Riley said through the speakerphone. "I've completed the analysis."

"What've you got for me?"

"I've confirmed your theory. It is a Digimon, a Perfect level called Locomon."

"And the spatial anomaly?"

"It's comprised of highly concentrated Digital Particles, sir," she answered. "The particles seem to be emanating solely from Locomon, and coming together to form the vortex over Ichigaya."

Digital particles were the same particles that made up the white, mist-like Digital Fields that appeared every time a Digimon Bio-Emerged. Those particles condensed during Bio-Emergence, and formed the Digimon's physical body.

"Sir, the concentration of the particles in the Digital Zone are off the charts," Riley continued. "If Locomon does this much longer, the Digital Zone will turn into a full-fledged gateway between the Digital and Real Worlds."

Yamaki thought fast. "We could use that to send Locomon back to the Digital world, if we can reroute the tracks to send him to Ichigaya."

Even if they didn't manage to send him through the gate, getting him of the current belt route would probably be enough to disperse the Digital Zone.

The head operator shook his head. "Power is on the fritz around the- whatever the hell that tornado thing is. We can't change the tracks."

"Then do it manually," Yamaki said simply.

"But that'll take-" The head operator started to object, but seemed to think better of it. "Right. Where should we do the change?"

Yamaki scanned the map, and then pointed. "Here. Yoyogi Station."

...

Jenrya panted as he ran down the street, Lopmon close at his heels. Behind him a familiar voice called his name.

"Yo! Jenrya! Over here!" Jenrya turned, and saw Hirokazu, Kenta, their respective Digimon and Guilmon appear out of an alleyway.

Relief washed over him, along with the beginnings of a new plan. Things might be easier now.

"You guys!" he called back, meeting up with them. "We've gotta find a way to get on board that Digimon as fast as possible."

"Tch! We know that," Hirokazu said impatiently. "Takato's already on board."

Jenrya gave Guilmon a confused look. "Then why are you here?"

"Locomon was too strong for me to stop as Growlmon," Guilmon explained, looking somewhat dejected. "So he got away from me."

"Huh," said Jenrya. "Well, we need to catch up with Locomon as soon as possible."

"Uh, in case you haven't noticed chumley, Locomon's kinda, y'know, faster than we are..." Hirokazu replied sarcastically.

Jenrya glanced around, and spotted a bright yellow rail car on the tracks next to the sidewalk. "We can use that," he said, pointing. "If Guardromon pushes, we should be able to get there in time."

"You can count on me," Guardromon said, sounding enthused.

Hirokazu and Kenta both nodded their approval. Then Hirokazu gave him an odd look, and pointed at Lopmon. "Uh, where's Terriermon?"

"Oh, uh…" Jenrya rubbed the back of his head, sheepish. "I kinda got… mixed up."

...

_Elsewhere…_

Terriermon sulked on a bench at Ochanomizu Station. "Stupid Jenrya…" he muttered. "How could he get us mixed up?!"

"It's alright, Terriermon," Shaochung said cheerfully.

...

Yamaki watched as the red dot representing Locomon began its fourth lap around the tracks. It would reach Yoyogi in half an hour at its current speed. The rail workers should have finished changing the tracks by then, but they would be cutting it close.

Suddenly, one of the operators stood up abruptly. "We have a problem sir! I just got a call from Tamachii Station! They say there are children on board Locomon!"

The head operator gaped. "That can't be possible!"

"One of the station attendants saw it sir," the operator replied. "There's no doubt about it!"

"Children, huh?" Yamaki muttered to himself.

...

"So what should we do now?" Takato wondered.

Ruki shrugged. "Heck if I know." The pair of them plus Renamon had retreated to Locomon's foremost passenger car, where they could discuss their next course of action without having to shout at each other over all of the noise. Said discussion was going nowhere fast.

At that moment, Ruki's cell phone rang. She answered it. "Hello?" She listened for a few seconds; Takato couldn't tell who she was talking to. It didn't sound like her mother. Ruki scowled, and wordlessly handed the phone to him.

Takato was surprised by this, but took it. "Hello?"

"Takato?" The voice was familiar.

"Yamaki!" he exclaimed.

"Yes, it's me," Yamaki replied. "I have a question for you. A railroad worker spotted a couple of children on board Locomon. You wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Uh, yeah, actually, that would be me and Ruki," Takato replied. He didn't know why he felt so sheepish. Being a Tamer, he and Ruki had every right to be there.

"I thought it was one of you guys," Yamaki answered. "Listen, Locomon is headed towards the Soubu line. We've set the tracks at Yoyogi Station so Locomon will change to the Sobu Rail line tracks. This will essentially send him into the Digital Field and hopefully back to the Digital World. You need to get off before that happens, which will be soon. Got that?"

"Yeah."

"Good." The call ended. Takato flipped the phone shut.

"Well, sounds like we can let Yamaki handle this," he said cheerfully, and proceeded to relate what Yamaki had said.

"Hmph." Ruki scowled when he finished. "So what?"

"So what… ?" Takato gaped. "Well, Guilmon's not here, so it's not like there's anything else we can do…"

Ruki snorted. "What, can't you do anything without his help?" She turned abruptly and went back towards the engine car. "Besides, when have Yamaki's plans ever worked without our help? I'm taking care of this one myself."

Takato stared after her as she shut the car door behind her. _What's her problem?_

...

Jenrya, Hirokazu, Kenta, and their assorted Digimon clambered onto the yellow train car. Hirokazu leaned out the window, grinning like an idiot. _High speed chase, here we come_.

"Yo, Guardromon, you ready?" he called to his partner, who was behind the car, preparing to push it.

"Aye aye, Captain!" Guardromon replied, doing a mock salute.

"Then let's go!" Hirokazu cheered.

...

Ruki clambered down the coal car ladder and back into the engine car. _I'll show them_, she thought. _I'll stop this damn train by myself_.

She spotted an enormous wrench lying next to the furnace, half as long as she was tall. Perfect. She didn't feel like being clever right now. She lifted it and started to swing…

The furnace door swung open and something shot out at her, not even giving her time to yell.


End file.
